Naruto Shippuuden 24: A Time To Kill
by rylansato
Summary: After Pain's assault on Konoha left the village destroyed. In order to occup the Jonins,Danzo,the new Hokage sends Aoba and his team to another country. With his team at half strength, they have to take care of a threat that could destroy the world.
1. Attack on Konoha

Naruto Shippuuden: A Time to Kill

Satori and Yukino stood in Satori's house, more specifically, in Satori's room. It had been a little over a day since their return from the Sunset Country. They were going over plans for their wedding that would be rather soon if they were going to be married before Hitomi was born.

"So, when we're married, where are we going to live?" Yukino asked.

"I've already thought about it. There's a place near where Naruto lives that I gone to see and talked to the people who run the place but I haven't given them the final word because I wanted to bring you along to see for yourself." Satori said.

Yukino smiled and nodded. She wrapped her arms around to kiss him but before she did, they both heard some explosions.

"What the hell?" Satori asked.

They both ran to the window and looked out. They saw multiple projectiles rise above the rooftops, arch and then come back down to strike a building. They looked to the other side to see a giant centipede appear out of a cloud of smoke and started making its way through the village.

Satori turned and sprinted down the stairs with Yukino in tow. Genma was still in the house but was getting ready to leave.

"What is going on?" Yukino asked.

"Someone is attacking the village." Genma said.

"They're pretty confident." Satori said.

"It may be Akatsuki." Genma said.

The eyes of the young couple widened.

"Akatsuki." Satori turned to Yukino. "Stay here."

"I'm going with you." She said.

"No you're not. Hokage's orders was for you to stay out of combat after our last mission. That applies to this as well."

Reluctantly, Yukino stood down knowing that Satori was right.

"I'm going on ahead." Genma said.

"Be careful, Dad." Satori said. "Those Akatsuki guys are really tough."

He nodded to his son before running out the door. Satori turned back to Yukino and planted a kiss on her lips.

"Be careful." She said.

"I always am." He said before leaping away.

Satori was only about a block away from his house when Junshin appeared next to him.

"Looks like someone got the balls to attack us." Junshin said.

"My dad said it's Akatsuki."

"That would make sense. Only they would be arrogant enough to attack all of us."

Suddenly, a girl with orange hair, piercings and a an Akatsuki cloak appeared in front of them. It was the Animal Realm Pain. Satori and Junshin stopped in their tracks. They instantly pulled out their weapons and readied themselves.

"Where is Uzumaki Naruto?" She asked.

"Probably eating ramen." Satori said.

The girl didn't look too amused by the answer.

"What's with the eyes?" Junshin asked.

"That's the Rinnegan. It's said that whoever has it will have mastery over all six forms of chakra nature manipulation."

Then another Akatsuki member appeared. This one had longer orange hair and piercings. One of the piercings went through the nose at an angle. It was Human Realm Pain.

"Where is Uzumaki Naruto?"

Satori sighed. "Didn't you get the hint? We're not going to tell you anything."

The girl clapped her hands together and then slammed them on the ground. I giant praying mantis with the Rinnegan appeared.

"Hey, I can do that too." Satori said doing handseals. "Kuchiyose no jutsu." (Summoning Technique)

He slammed his hand to the ground and Sorasumaru appeared.

"I'll take the other one." Junshin said before running at Human Realm.

Satori leapt onto Sorasumaru's head as the two summoning went at it.

Sorasumaru stood up on his hind legs and batted at the praying mantis's limbs. Animal Realm ran up the back of the mantis, leapt off its head and landed right in front of Satori. She threw a punch at him that he blocked and countered with a kick that went over her head.

Satori spun around and landed a kick to the girl's face. She flew back, flipped and landed on her feet. The two continued to battle while Sorasumaru fought the mantis.

Junshin fought with the Human Realm Pain on the ground below between the feet of the summoned animals. He molded two kunai from his metal bracelets and threw them at his opponent. One struck Human Realm and the other missed and hit the ground. Then Junshin did a few handseals.

"Raiton: Kane no denkoo no jutsu." (Lightning Element: Metallic Lightning Technique)

A lightning bolt came from the sky and struck the kunai that was stuck in the ground and rode a wire that was attached to it to the other kunai that was stuck in Human Realm.

The bolt electrocuted the Akatsuki member but he was able to pull out the kunai. He ran at Junshin landing a few punches into the former Rock ninja's gut and then sent a knee into his face. Junshin reached up and touched one of the piercings and then kicked off. He flipped through the air and landed a few feet away.

He raised his hand to head level with the index and middle fingers extended.

"You're done for now." Junshin said.

Human Realm didn't react at all to his statement.

"KATSU!"

Nothing happened and Junshin's eyes widened. Human Realm disappeared from in front of Junshin and then reappeared behind him. Before Junshin could react, he felt a hand grab the top of his head.

"It would appear that you don't know where the Nine Tailed Beast is."

He gripped harder and pulled his hand up. Along with his hand, a human shaped form came from Junshin. Junshin then fell to the ground.

Satori looked just in time to see his friend fall.

"JUNSHIN!"

With his attention on Junshin, Satori failed to notice Animal Realm come up and attack. The girl's kick sent Satori flying off of Sorasumaru and onto a nearby rooftop. He got to his feet, holstered his sai weapons and did a series of handseals ending with the Tiger seal.

"Katon: Hosenka no jutsu." (Fire Element: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique)

Animal dodged around the flames and headed towards Satori. The Jonin saw Sorasumaru extend his claws and swipe at the mantis delivering a fatal blow to the praying mantis, thus causing it to disappear.

Satori then looked down to the other Pain body approaching someone in a doorway. Satori's eyes widened when he realized where he was. He was on a rooftop across from his house. The person that Human Realm was approaching was Yukino.

"I wonder if you know where the Nine Tails is." Human Realm said as he reached for Yukino.

Then suddenly, Human Realm was tackled from the side by Satori.

"Like hell you're going to touch her." Satori said.

He put his hands in a seal formation to create shadow clones but before he was able to do the jutsu, Human Realm grabbed Satori by the head and pulled out his soul. His body dropped right in front of Yukino. Human Realm approached Yukino when Animal Realm landed next to him.

"We have another mission. Leave her."

The two of them leapt away leaving Yukino by herself. She fell to her knees and pulled Satori close to her and cried.


	2. Full of Pain

Kaida and Gintokin ran through the village on their way to intercept the intruders. They turned the corner and up some stairs and stopped when they saw lumps of paper lying around and a blue haired Akatsuki member standing there. Gintokin pulled out his sword from its sheath as Kaida pulled out her kusarigama.

Kaida, holding on to the chains, threw her kusarigama at Konan, who leapt up into the air. She looked up to see Gintokin above her with his sword raised above him, ready to strike. He swung at her but she dodged the attack by moving her upper body. She then launched pieces of paper at him that turned into shuriken.

"Kami shuriken."

Gintokin sliced through them but cutting through them just turned them into more shuriken. They came around and struck Gintokin all over. He landed on his back and blood flew out of his mouth. His sword landed a few feet away. Kaida launched her kusarigama at Konan again. It had the same results as the previous attack. Only this time, Konan's body began turning into paper. She attacked Kaida and Gintokin at the same time.

"Do either one of you know where Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Go to hell." Kaida said.

Without saying anything, Konan covered Kaida's entire body with paper, suffocating her. She then turned her attention to Gintokin. Her body was almost entirely made of paper with the exception of her head.

"Where is Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Fuck you." He said.

Knowing that she wasn't going to get any information out of him either, she decided to kill him as well.

Seika stood in his ANBU uniform with three other ANBU members surrounding Tsunade on top of the Hokage Building. They were helping Tsunade was sending her chakra out to Katsuyu to help everyone in the village. Suddenly, Choji appeared.

"Hokage-sama." He said. "We figured out one of the enemy's abilities."

"Tell me."

"This one is male about twenty-five to thirty. He has six nose piercings and seven in his ears. He uses some sort of power that's like gravitation and repulsion. He can draw anything towards him and he can repel any attack."

"Repel anything?" Seika asked.

"Yes. But there's about a five second interval after he uses his powers before he can use it again."

"Only five seconds?"

"Thank you for letting me know. We'll lose a lot few people now." Tsunade said. She turned to the ANBU members. "Use katsuyu to tell everyone else."

"Right." They said in unison.

"Choza's team provided backup for Kakashi." Choji said. "There were two of the enemy and I think I'm the only one who survived."

"Go to Choza." Tsunade said. "If you get them to the hospital quickly they might still have a chance."

Choji was a bit surprised by Tsunade's comment. "You mean my father is still…"

"Yes."

"Thank god. I'm so relieved." Then Choji looked as if he just realized something. "Kakashi. What about Kakashi?"

Seika could feel the awkward silence

"Hurry Choji." Tsunade said.

Without saying anything else, Choji leapt away.

Hanako was in the hospital with Sakura running around trying to heal as many people as they could. The wounded kept coming in and they were getting backed up.

"I can't keep up with them." Hanako said.

"Same here. I can't heal them at this rate."

Seika focused on the task at hand when suddenly, God Realm Pain appeared. The female ANBU member leapt to her feet. Tsunade turned around as Pain stared her down. Seika stood up and readied himself for an attack. This was the guy who killed Jiraiya and anything could happen. Seika was aware of Pain's technique so he and the others used chakra to keep their feet anchored to the ground.

"Six piercings in his nose, seven in his nose. It's him."

"You." Tsunade said.

"Long time no see, Tsunade. You're the only one left of the Legendary Sannin."

"You're that kid." Tsunade said.

"Looks like you remember me.

"Do you know him, Hokage-sama?" Seika asked.

"A little."

"Who is he?"

"The god that will restore order." Pain said.

"He's not an ordinary ninja. That's for sure." Another ANBU said.

"Where is Uzumaki Naruto? Where is the Nine tailed beast?"

"Who knows?" Tsunade said.

"I've captured almost all of the hosts. The ninja villages have lost the equilibrium of the tailed beasts. It's no use hiding the Kyubi. The fighting will start soon. The embers of war are already smoldering. And we will control the war. If you cooperate I'll be willing to help you. You must be aware of the situation of our power."

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE FIFTH HOKAGE!" Tsunade yelled. "You're just a bunch of terrorists trying to destroy the stability our forefathers worked for. Whatever you say is meaningless."

"Don't be so haughty."

_His chakra is amazing_. An ANBU member thought.

_Is this the power of the Rinnegan? I've never felt anything like it. I have a bad feeling about this. _The female ANBU member thought.

"You're peace results in violence towards us." Pain said.

"I'm not saying everything Konoha has done has been right, but I won't accept your way of doing things." Tsunade said.

"Watch what you say." Pain said. "This is your last warning from God. Tell me where Naruto is."

"We will use everything we have to fight you. That is all. And you're wrong about one thing."

"You'll never get what you want most."

"If you think Konoha's ninjas can protect Naruto forever…" Pain said.

"That's not it. Naruto is strong."

Pain closed his eyes for a moment and then opened then and looked at Tsunade. "Naruto isn't here. Myobokuzan."

"What?" Tsunade said with wide eyes. _He knows where Naruto is._

"Myobokuzan. That's the Frog Village isn't it? Looks like there's no reason to hang around here anymore."

"You bastard." Tsunade said.

The female ANBU member turned to Tsunade. "We should let him go and use that time to strengthen our protection of the village."

"And one last thing." Pain said. "The chakra in your feet…is that to guard against my technique? I guess that means you know about my powers. Everything is meaningless in the face of overwhelming power. You great nations have proven that."

"You son of a…"

"You think you're the only ones who matter. You think you can put off death. But peace has made you foolish and thoughtless. If you kill someone, someone else will kill you. Hatred binds you together."

"Enough of your nonsense." Tsunade said.

"War brings pain and injury and death to both sides." Pain said.

"The great nations have suffered too. I've had enough of your accusations."

Pain turned his head to look at Tsunade out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't make me laugh. I want you to feel pain, to think about pain, to accept pain, to know pain." Pain said kneeling down.

_Does he still have something up his sleeve? _Tsunade thought.

Pain leapt up into the air. "Those who don't know pain can never know true peace."

Seika watched the orange haired Akatsuki member get higher and higher into the air until he was a spec in the sky.

"What is he planning?" Seika asked.

Pain raised his hands above his head.

"Let's go." Tsunade said.

The Hokage and the ANBU members leapt into the air.

"SHINRA TENSEI!"

A wave of destruction swept through Konoha destroying everything in its path. Nothing remained of the Hidden Village of the Leaf except a crater.


	3. Already Going on a Mission

Seika helped pull Tsunade from the debris.

"Damn it. I'll never forgive you. I'll never forgive you, Pain."

Seika looked at Tsunade and noticed something.

_The mark on her forehead is gone. She must have already released her souzou saisei jutsu and poured all her chakra into Katsuyu to protect the villagers from Pain's attack. At this rate, she'll…_

Seika's train of thought was interrupted when Naruto appeared and Tsunade took off running. He took off after her. She stood between Naruto and Pain.

"I am the Fifth Hokage."

"Hokage-sama." Seika called out.

"And I'll never forgive you fro trampling on the treasure, the dreams, of those who came before me. As Hokage, I will put a stop to you here and now."

"Looks like you understand a little of my pain now. But, I have no use for you." The Demon Realm Pain took off for Tsunade. Razors came out from the hand and reached out for the Hokage. Seika reached for her as well but was too far away. Demon Realm was really fast.

"The one I want…" Pain said.

Suddenly, Naruto flew in and smashed Demon Realm to the ground and pieces of the puppet flew in all directions.

"Is me right?" Naruto said. The Kyubi Jinchuuriki stood up and stared down Pain. "There's no need for Konoha's Hokage to deal with the likes of these guys. You just go enjoy a nice cup of tea or something."

Gamakichi landed behind them.

"Take Granny Tsunade to safety."

"Roger that." Gamakichi said.

"Leave this to me. Tell the villagers not to interfere. It'll just make it harder to fight if I have to protect them at the same time. Maybe this isn't the best time to ask but now that I have natural energy, I can feel everyone's chakra. Did Kakashi leave the village on a mission?"

Tsunade didn't say anything.

"I get it." Naruto said.

Gamakichi picked up Tsunade and leapt away with Seika in tow. They landed near Sakura who came running over.

"Tsunade-sama."

"Sakura." Tsunade said. "It's all right now."

Seika watched Tsunade revert to her normal older looking state as Sakura took her hand.

_Well done, Tsunade-sama._ He thought.

Hanako walked over to their position to check on Tsunade's status, when a giant being popped out of the ground and towered over everything. It was the spectral Enma head. Hanako's eyes widened.

"Damn it. When will it be over?" She asked.

Enma's giant mouth opened and released something that looked like fireworks. Each one entered a body of a Konoha ninja. One even entered the elder frog that God Realm had killed.

Satori's eyes opened surprising Yukino. He sat up and she hugged him tightly, still crying.

"That was annoying." He said.

Nearby, Junshin also awoke. After getting his bearings, he lifted himself to his feet and stumbled around.

"What the hell just happened?"

Kaida and Gintokin also awoke with confused looks on their faces. They looked around and saw the destruction.

"What happened here?" Kaida asked.

"I don't know." Gintokin said. "Let's go find the others."

The two of them took off running. Shortly later, they met up with Satori, Yukino and Junshin where the main gates used to be.

"So what happened to us?" Junshin asked.

"You were dead." Yukino said.

"What?" Kaida asked.

"I saw that Akatsuki member pull out Satori's soul." Yukino said.

"I saw the same when he did it to Junshin. But somehow we're alive and that's all that matters." Satori said.

Then it seemed that the entire village started to gather around.

"What's going on?" Yukino asked.

"Naruto beat Pain." Tenten said landing next to them along with the rest of her team. "He's on his way back along with Kakashi."

Tenten ran up and hugged her brother tightly.

"Are you okay, Nii-chan?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I hate being dead. That's the second time I died. I don't want to do it again. I'm glad that you weren't here for the battle."

She placed a kiss on her brother's cheek before releasing him. She then looked over to Junshin and hugged him tightly as well. She also kissed him but her kiss was a bit more intimate than the one with her brother.

Suddenly, the crowd cheered. The group turned around towards the forest to see Kakashi carrying Naruto.

"Well I'll be damned." Satori said looking around. "They're finally acknowledging him."

As Naruto got closer, Satori began clapping. He was followed by the rest of his friends. Naruto hopped off Kakashi's back and walked under his own power. A group of new Genin ran towards him and surrounded him asking him all kinds of questions about Pain.

Sakura approached Naruto. She then punched him in the head.

"You dummy. Always acting rash." Then after punching him she hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

The following day, Aoba, Satori, Junshin, Hanako, Gintokin, Seika, Kaida and Kanaye walked out of the village on their way to the Fang Country. Kanaye had joined the group because of Yukino's absence due to her pregnancy.

The whole group was surprised at the Daimyo's decision to make Danzo the Hokage because Tsunade was in a coma. The village was still destroyed but was being rebuilt thanks to Yamato's Mokuton (Wood Element) ninjutsu.

"Can Konoha really spare us at a time like this to go on a mission to the Fang Country?" Hanako asked.

"Danzo doesn't want other countries to think that we're weakened because of the attack by Akatsuki." Aoba said. "I slightly agree with him but I do think that we should be back at the village helping with the rebuilding process."

"What is this mission about?" Kaida asked.

"Danzo received a letter from the Daimyo of the Fang because something has been unleashed in the village." Satori said.

"Did they say what?"

Satori shook his head. "It said something about a door underground was found and it was opened."

"Actually, I do remember reading something about an underground door." Kaida said. "I'm not sure where it was but the one thing I do remember and that was what was inscribed on the door. It said 'Do not open until the day of Ragnarok."

"Your family and Yukino's family aren't by chance related are they?" Satori asked.

Kaida shook her head. "No, my family left Konoha shortly after it was first founded. It wasn't until recently that when I returned. My father and brother live in the Mountain Country. Why do you ask?"

"Yukino has a high interest in supernatural and folklore. Her original team was usually sent out on missions dealing with supernatural beings. That was actually when we first met. We went on a mission to the Glass Country and ran into some being and I ended up getting possessed."

"Do you remember what the name of the entity that possessed you?"

"Akurei." Satori said. Kaida's eyes widened. "I'll never forget that name or the feelings it had when it possessed me."

Kaida turned her attention from Satori to what was in front of her. She went into her thoughts.

_So, the leader of the Sons of Darkness is out and obviously for sometime. He was supposed to be sealed behind a set of doors underground in the…_

Kaida's eyes widened and she let out a little gasp. The gasp caught the attention of her teammates."Aoba-sensei." She called.

The sun-glassed jonin turned his head to face Kaida. "What is it, Kaida?"

"I have reason to believe that this underground door that was opened is in fact the door I read about. The door that wasn't supposed to be opened until the day of Ragnarok."


	4. First Encounters

In a dark, murky chamber a dark silhouette stood in front of two other beings. The small amount of light that was in the room didn't even shine on the beings in the room.

"We just need a little more time. There are people coming to stop us. I need you two go after them and stop them."

"As you command." One of them said in an almost demonic voice.

The team from Konoha continued to leap through the trees on their way to the Fang Country.

"What is it that you read?" Aoba asked.

"It was a set of scrolls called the Dead Sea Scrolls." Kaida said. "It said that Akurei is a demon of hostility and that all demons associated with him are demons of destruction."

"This is going to be a fun one." Satori said."

"It also said that Akurei shall be let loose against the world."

Aoba slightly turned his head in Kaida's direction with a considerable look of worry on his face. "Tell us more about these Doors of Doomsday."

"Well, it says that if these doors are opened, demons will pour out of the doors like water. There was only one way to stop it but the rest of the scroll was missing and I couldn't figure out what the rest said."

"That figures." Junshin said.

"Looks like we're in over our heads." Kanaye said.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Gintokin said. "We were in way over our head during our mission to the Sunset Country."

"One thing I do remember from the Dead Sea Scrolls was 'And I saw when he opened the doors there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and moon became red as blood. The stars fell from the heavens and the seas rose to claim the impurities." Kaida said.

Everybody went silent at that. It seemed that everything on Earth stood still and was silent for those few moments. One could drop a pin in the Lightning Country and hear it in the Wind Country.

"One thing is for certain." Aoba said. "Is that we need to stop whatever it is."

Then suddenly both fire and water shot from in front of them.

"Katon and Suiton Jutsu." Satori called. "Everyone scatter."

The ninjas leapt out of the way of the attacks and then landed on the ground. The two attackers landed in front of them. They didn't look exactly human in fact, they looked more beastly. The Konoha ninjas figured that these two had emerged from the Ragnarok doors.

One of them had seven heads with two faces on each head and six wings on the right side of back and six on the left side. The only thing that looked remotely human was its hands and feet. Small flames flickered and danced at the corner of its mouth. The other appeared female with a greenish gleaming face with disheveled serpent like hair and the rest of its body just total darkness.

Satori assumed that the winged one was the Katon user and the female was the Suiton user.

"Are these the ones?" One beast asked.

"They look like them." The other replied.

"Who are you?" Aoba demanded.

The one with small flames peaking at the corner of his mouth spoke first.

"I am Azazel."

The female then responded.

"I am Abyzou."

"Why did you attack us?" Junshin asked.

"We were ordered to by our master." Azazel said.

"Is it Akurei?" Kaida asked.

The two humanoid beasts looked to each other.

"They know of the master." Abyzou whispered.

"Well not for long because we were sent here to stop them anyway." Azazel said before leaping at the Konoha team.

Satori did a handseal and created a clone. The clone then transformed into a giant shuriken. Satori launched the shuriken at the incoming beast. Azazel dodged the attack by leaping into the air. The shuriken transformed back into the Satori clone that did a series of hand seals.

"Katon: Hosenka no jutsu." (Fire Element: Mythical Phoenix Fire Technique.)

Multiple fireballs were launched toward Azazel. Abyzou opened her mouth and shot a wave of water out and extinguished the attack before it reached her partner. Junshin molded his bracelets into larger rings with sharper edges. He launched them at Abyzou who jumped into the air to avoid the attacks. Junshin then clasped his hands together to form the seal of the Snake and the two metallic rings obeyed his command. They moved through the air towards each other. Once they touched, they turned into a chain with kunai attached at either end. It came around and wrapped around Abyzou and the two kunai swung in and stabbed the beast in both sides of her neck.

Junshin relaxed for a bit before he realized that the Abyzou he had taken out was a water clone when it turned into water. The real one leapt out of the puddle of water and shot a high pressured stream of water that sliced through anything that it touched.

While Abyzou was still partially water, Hanako leapt out from underneath the ground, behind Abyzou catching the beast by surprise.

"Raiton: Raikyuu no jutsu." (Lightning Element: Lightning ball technique)

Hanako slammed the ball of lightning into water part of Abyzou, electrocuting it. The beast howled as it died. Abyzou solidified and its body returned to normal before it fell to the ground dead.

Azazel came up from behind Hanako to make a killing blow when Seika ran up and stuck a needle into the base of each head causing it to stop in mid-motion. Kaida swung out her Kyoketsu Shogeand sliced through all seven heads of the beast. Azazel dropped dead too and everyone relaxed.

"Well, that was unexpected." Kanaye said.

"That's only the first and a very small preview of what is to come." Kaida said.

"Well, they weren't so hard." Seika said.

"That's because we were in a group." Kaida countered. "If we face them one on one then we'll be in trouble."

"Come on," Aoba said. "They're onto us already so we need to keep moving."

The Konoha team followed their leaders orders and leapt into the trees and proceeded to the Fang Country.


	5. Two Down Three to Go

The group from Konoha continued their trek through the trees. The sun had set and they needed to set down for a short break. They had recovered from their quick battle against the first assault that Akurei had sent against them.

Aoba leapt from the branch of a tree and into a small area that was still covered by trees but it was open enough for them to set up a camp.

"We'll rest here for a few hours. Get some sleep. You'll need it." Aoba said.

The rest of the squad pulled out their sleeping mats and laid down.

Akurei sat in the shadows of his dark, murky, cave like chambers and more beings appeared in front of him, kneeling.

"Go, I want that team destroyed. If you come back and have failed, you'll end up like Azazel and Abyzou. Just hope that you kill them."

The beings bowed their heads and leapt out from the cavern to intercept the Konoha ninjas.

Gintokin was on watch while the rest slept. His attention to the smallest thing made his head snap to his left as he launched a shuriken into the brush. He went over to investigate and saw nothing except for his shuriken stuck into a tree. He pulled it out of the tree, looked around, and walked back to his position.

In the branches, just above, where the shuriken struck, stood one of Akurei's minions. It began to move but it flinched in pain. It looked down at its leg to see it bleeding. Its eyes widened.

It looked back to where Gintokin was standing but he was gone. The demon looked to its right just in time to see Gintokin swinging his sword down on it. The demon pulled out its two swords with one hand to block the attack.

The swords clashed creating a shower of sparks. This being had blue hair, looked human with the exception of the scales around the eyes that went to the ears that were pointed.

"The name's Marchosias." It said. "Go after the rest."

Gintokin was a bit confused by what the demon said after its introduction. Then he realized when he saw four beings shoot from the shadows of other trees, heading towards the rest of the group.

Gintokin was about to call out to his friends but Marchosias backhanded him across the face preventing him from calling out.

Kaida's eyes shot open to see a figure standing over her. Her eyes were a bit blurry from just waking up but her reflexes were still sharp enough to move out of the way of the attack. She sprung into the air and lashed out her kyoketsu shoge at her attacker. Her opponent looked female with razor sharp teeth, brass colored arms and snakes for hair. She looked just like two other demons that were attacking the rest of the group.

"So, which one are you?" Kaida asked. "Medusa? Euryale? Stheno?"

"What makes you think I'm one of them?" The demon asked in a very slithery like voice.

"Your appearance for one, fits the description of one of the Gorgon sisters and since there are three of you that adds to the evidence."

"Very good. I am Stheno."

Then Kaida realized something. "Guys, don't look into the eyes of the Gorgon sisters. Their gaze will turn you to stone."

"Tch, figures." Satori said while clashing with Euryale.

A figure appeared in the air behind Hanako with a large hammer. This figure, like the Gorgon sisters, had snake like hair, grayish skin that seemed symbolize the decay of death, pointed ears, a full beard, fiery eyes, a nose hooked like a vulture as well as boar like tusks that rode along its cheeks leather looking wings. It pulled the weapon up ready to strike the unsuspecting kunoichi. It swung the hammer down and slammed it into Hanako's head, busting it open and flooring the ninja.

The being smiled in triumph. "That was really easy."

Its smile disappeared when the body disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Hanako appeared behind the demon with a kunai drawn. It turned around just in time to block Hanako's attack.

"You guys aren't used to ninjas are you?" She said as she countered the block with a kick to the demon's abdomen.

The being recovered by using its wings to stabilize itself in the air. Hanako reached into her hip pouch and pulled out some shuriken that were placed in between each of her fingers. She threw her arms forward, launching the small weapons.

"Like those small things are going to hurt the mighty Charun." It said.

Suddenly Hanako appeared behind Charun doing hand signs. Then a lightning ball formed in her hand to which she slammed into the back of Charun. The ball electrocuted the demon for a few seconds before it pushed off from Hanako and landed on the branch of a tree. It readied itself and leapt at Hanako, who had just landed. Hanako readied herself as Charun sprinted towards her. She began to extend fingers, retract fingers, and make fists on her right hand. She was doing one handed hand seals.

"Keton: Ketsueki Jouhatsu no jutsu." (Blood Element: Blood Evaporation Technique)

Charun stopped in his tracks and began to groan in pain. He dropped to his knees and clutched his sides.

"What did you do?"

"You think that lightning ball was only to inflict damage? With it, I was able to infuse my chakra into your blood when I hit you with it. From that point on, I could do anything with your blood. That is my Kekkei Genkai."

A few seconds later, Charun dropped over dead. Seika and Aoba, meanwhile, were dealing with the Gorgon sister known as Medusa. The demon wasn't powerful but she was quick and nimble. It made it very difficult for the two ninjas attack her with the standard ninjutsu. Aoba would come in with a punch and the demon would duck or leap into the air while Seika would assist and again the demon would dodge the attack.

"She's really getting annoying." Aoba said.

"She's way past annoying." Seika replied. "I'm done dickin' around."

"You two mortals can't touch me." Medusa said.

At that moment, the demon felt something grab her shoulder. She instinctively leapt into the air to avoid any attack that was coming from behind. While she was in the air, she looked back and saw nothing was there. She then felt a presence above her and she looked up to see Aoba above her. The Jonin slammed his heel into the Gorgon's forehead, sending her crashing to the ground. She shot back to her feet, infuriated that she let a mortal land a hit. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder but she didn't react as fast as she previously did, thinking that they were going to do the same attack again. She was wrong.

The hand's grasp on her tightened and pulled her back. Seika slammed her on her back and pulled out a small needle from his bracelet on his left hand. He stuck the needle into the demon's neck.

"What's that supposed to do?" Medusa asked.

Seika stood up a bit pleased with himself.

"Try and get up." He said.

Medusa tried but nothing happened.

"What? What's going on?" She demanded.

"I told you I was done dickin' around. The needle I placed on you is a simple needle but once it's infused with my chakra it can cause paralysis on any part of the body I plant it. Since, it's in your neck, you can't move at all."

Without saying anything more, Seika moved to the side to allow Aoba to leap down with the killing blow, by slamming a kunai into Medusa's forehead. Both ninjas then leapt back as the explosive note on the kunai's handle glowed brightly before it exploded, taking one of the Gorgon sisters with it.


	6. Finishing The Other Three

Satori leapt through the air dodging an attack from Euryale. His hand moved quickly together forming handseals.

"Katon: Ryusenka no jutsu." (Dragon Hail Flower Technique)

Satori spit out multiple dragon head shaped fireballs that once they hit the ground exploded like a flower blooming. The Gorgon sister evaded the attack and appeared behind Satori. He turned and saw that she was staring directly at him, directly into his soul. He could feel his body freezing up and he couldn't use them anymore. His body was turning to stone. That was the ability of all three Gorgon sisters. After a few seconds, Satori was completely encased in stone.

With one hard kick, she broke the Satori statue. She felt proud of herself as she killed one of the Konoha ninjas.

She then felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see and feel the business end of Satori's gloved fist. Euryale stumbled back.

"What the hell? I killed you." She said.

"Tch, you think you'd kill me with something that simple? That was a Kage Bunshin."

Euryale leapt at Satori again, disappeared right in front of her. She stopped and looked around.

"Now where did you go?" She asked.

Suddenly, she felt two points touching her throat. Her eyes shifted down to see two handles of weapons in her line of sight. That meant that Satori was holding the blades of his weapons. They were positioned in such away that if he pulled on the weapons that it would decapitate her.

"One word of advice." Satori said. "Don't mess with Konoha ninjas."

Then without further warning, he pulled on his weapons that sliced through the demon's neck. Its head fell from its shoulders. The body dropped to its knees and then slumped over. Satori stood over the body, moving the senbon in his mouth as he holstered his sai weapons.

Junshin flipped backwards through the air as Marchosias slammed the tip of his sword into the ground. Junshin launched kunai and shuriken at his opponent, who ducked and rolled out of the way. Marchosias quickly turned partially around and grabbed the sword of Gintokin, who had come in from above and swung his sword down on the demon.

He launched the Konoha ninja at Junshin. Gintokin landed on his feet next to his comrade.

"It's like this guy has eyes on the back of his head." Gintokin said.

"I know. But I doubt he has eyes in his feet." Junshin said as he did the seal of the snake and then slammed his hand on the ground.

Marchosias was about to leap into the air when he felt a horrid pain in his feet. He looked down to see spikes sticking out of his feet and pinning them to the ground. The demon looked up at the two ninjas only to see Junshin. He had two metal rings in his hands.

The former Rock ninja threw the metal rings at Marchosias. The rings sliced through the demon's arms just as easily as they sliced through the air. Marchosias looked stunned as his arms fell to the ground. The metal rings came flying back around and Junshin caught them out of the air.

"What are you not going to finish me off?" Marchosias asked.

Junshin molded the rings back into smaller forms of the rings that he wore as bracelets. He then pointed past the demon with a bit of a smirk on his face. Marchosias turned his head as far as he could without turning fully around because of his pinned feet. His eyes widened when he saw Gintokin in the air, bringing his sword down at an angle slicing through the demons head.

"He won't, but I will." Gintokin said sheathing his sword.

Kaida leapt around dodging Stheno's attacks. The final Gorgon sister was trying her damnedest to get Kaida to look her in the eyes. The Konoha kunoichi leapt into the air throwing out her kyoketsu shoge, in hopes to land a hit on her demon opponent.

Stheno pulled snakes out of her hair, straightened them and used them as spears. If they missed their target they would just slither away but once they landed, they would slither their way into the wound and try to come out the other side. Needless to say they would do some major damage to the inflicted person. And Kaida would do everything in her power not to get hit by one of those snakes.

Kaida hid behind a tree, trying to come up with an attack plan. Stheno didn't give her the time. The demon came rushing in, launching more snakes and Kaida did more dodging.

Kaida took an errant step and fell over. Stheno appeared over hear ready to strike.

"Now you will join the rest of them." Stheno said.

Kaida gave the Gorgon sister a confused look at the comment. Stheno then noticed that Kaida's fingers twitched. She looked more closely and saw a very fine wire wrapped around them. From behind Stheno, a pair of kusarigama came flying toward the demon.

Stheno had no chance to dodge before the two weapons slammed into her shoulder blades. She couldn't move her arms now. Kaida stood up, more comfortable that Stheno couldn't attack.

"Think you're safe now because I can't throw my snakes? They can move on their own." Stheno said.

Kaida's eyes widened as the demon's hair moved on its own and lashed out at her. Kaida then saw something out of the corner of her eye.

A blue arrow came flying through the air and took out all of the snakes.

"What?" Stheno said looking over to the left. She saw Kanaye sitting in a tree aiming his bow and arrow at her with a smirk on his face. "How can you see with your head protector covering your eyes?"

"Don't worry about it." Kanaye said as he fired another arrow that slammed into Stheno's head, dropping the final Gorgon sister.

Kanaye dropped down from the tree and approached Kaida who had a confused look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Kanaye asked.

"Stheno said something about me joining the rest of them." Kaida said.

"That doesn't make any sense because the rest of us are still here. We beat the other demons." Kanaye said.

"She probably said that to make me think that the others were killed." Kaida said.

The two shrugged and then joined the others. They all seemed a bit tired and worn out from this constant battling.

"So what now, guys." Junshin asked.

"We keep moving." Aoba said. "There should be a small village nearby and we'll rest there. We should be all right as long as we don't get attacked before then. However, I don't think that we're even close to being done with this mission. Let's go."

The small group of them leapt into the trees in formation, hoping they could catch a break from all this battling they've done.


	7. Possession

The Konoha team had left the village they stayed at the night before. They still had about a day's walk ahead of them. The whole group felt a bit relaxed and rested. Fight after fight, battle after battle; it was getting to be tiresome. They weren't looking forward to the mission ahead because so far the journey has been dangerous, that only meant that the main threat was even more so.

Aoba was up ahead with Satori and Junshin behind him on either side of him. Seika came up behind them but stood in the space between them as if they were in a diamond formation. Hanako walked directly behind Seika, only a few feet apart with Gintokin and Kaida on her flanks and Kanaye bringing up the rear. The group marched forward, making stops from time to time.

Suddenly, Aoba stopped and put his fist in the air to signal the rest of them to stop. He then flattened his hand and moved it from side to side, signaling his team to disappear. once they did, he did the same. Aoba looked around, seeing if anythign was approaching or was nearby. He closely listened to the sounds of nature to determine if it had been disturbed at all. So far nothing. He knew that he heard something but it could've been an animal of some sort or nothing at all. Just to be safe, he contacted the rest of his team by touching the button on his collar.

"Satori, do you see anything with your Sekigan?"

Satori scanned the area with his Seikigan vision. "Nothing, Aoba-sensei."

"Junshin, you?"

"Nope."

"Seika?"

"Not a thinkg."

"Hanako? Kanaye? Kaida? Gintokin?"

"No."

"Nothing."

"I don't see anything."

"I got nothing."

Satisfied that nothing was near them, Aoba came out from his hiding spot as well as the others did. They resumed formation and continued on their way to the Fang Country.

A shortwhile later, as the group continued to walk, Satori stopped.

"What is it, Satori?" Aoba asked turning around.

Satori put his hand up to silence his team leader. "Shh. Do you hear singing?"

After a moment of listening Aobo nodded.

"Sekigan." Satori said as his eyes swirled into their purple colored state. "I see a large mass, that is cold blooded, in a tree directly ahead."

The group cautiously approached to see a girl no older than sixteen or seventeen sitting on a branch of a tree, singing and combing her hair, which was green with a hint of gold to it. Her skin was translucent and her eyes were like green fire with no visible pupils. She was all wet and looked as if she had just gone swimming or something of similar nature.

"Kaida," Aoba said. "Is this another one?"

Kaida looked up at the young girl in the tree for a few moments. "She resembles one but I can't be too certain. A waterfall is near here, so she could've gone swimming."

"What about what she looks like?" Seika asked. "She doesn't look too normal."

Neither does Orochimaru." Junshin said. "And he's not one of Akurei's minions."

The girl in the tree looked at the team and tilted her head as if she was closely studying them.

"Those six Pain bodies were dead and they made short work of us." Satori said. "Looks alone are not proof." Satori turned his head around and looked at their surroundings."Shit."

"What is it?" Hanako asked.

"Guys, we're surrounded."

"How many?" Aoba asked.

"Too large a number. Can't count them all." Satori replied.

The eight ninjas stood battle ready as the demons appeared from the trees. Four of the five demons looked different than the rest. The otehrs were clones of the fifth one. the clones and the real demon had the body of a man and an elephant like head with a mouth full of tusks.

Another demon had the appendages of a horse but its torso was like a human's torso.

The fourth demon was goat like in appearance but walked on its hind legs.

The fifth demon looked normal. He was a handsome man in some sort of uniform but he was mounted on a crocodile.

"This is going to be fun." Satori said drawing his black bladed sai weapons, eyeballing the clones that surrounded him and his team.

Kaida focused on the clones. She recognized their appearance.

Meanwhile, Yukino and Tenten were out walking around the newly rebuilt Konoha.

"How long do you think it will be until Satori and Junshin return from their mission?" Yukino asked.

"I don't know. These missions lately have taken a lot longer than missions in the past. Have you heard what this one is about?"

Yukino shook her head.

"I heard it had something to do with some kind of underground door that had been opened. But the door had a warning on it telling people not to open it."

Yukino stopped in her tracks as Tenten took a few more steps before stopping. She looked at Yukino's concerned face.

"What is it?"

A few seconds passed before Yukino responded. "I gotta go. I'll catch up with you later." She said sprinting off.

Tenten held up her hand in protest. "Yukino, wait."

It was too late; Yukino was already out of sight.

Yukino ran into her room and scanned the books on her bookshelf. She found the book on the third shelf. She grabbed it and quickly opened it. She finally found what she was looking for. Her eyes quickly darted from line to line, quickly processing the information. Then her eyes widened as she gasped.

The Konoha team was still surrounded by their demonic enemies. Kaida still searched her memories for information on why she recognized one of the demons. She couldn't remember too much about the demon except for one of his abilities. Possession.

"I'll even the odds." Satori said as he formed a hand seal.

"SATORI, NO!" Kaida shouted.

"TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" (Mass Shadow Clone Technique)

Hundreds of Satori clones appeared.

The elephant headed demon smirked. "That was not wise of you, my friend."

The demon slammed his hand on the ground and almost instantly the Satori clones dropped to their knees and looked like they were having trouble breathing. They all stood up and faced the Konoha ninjas with glowing red eyes and the intent to kill.

"What the hell happened?" Satori asked.

"I recognized that one. Its name is Aka Manah. It can create clones of itself and take control of clones of its opponents."

_Could've told me that sooner. _Satori thought to himself.

With their opponents now doubled, the Konoha ninjas prepared themselvse for a long fight.

Yukino, dressed as she was ready for a fight, sprinted towards the doors as they were closing. Izumo and Kotetsu were closing the doors. At the last possible moment, Yukino leapt through the closing space between the doors just as they closed. The two Chuunins looked at each other with confused looks.

"What the hell was that?" Kotetsu asked.

Izumo shrugged and the two of them walked away. Yukino sprinted through the woods heading to the Fang Country.

_It's up to me. I'm the only one who can stop Akurei._

To Be Continued in Naruto Shippuuden: A Time To Heal


End file.
